Ring binder



C. J. MILLER RING BINDER Oct. 15, 1957 Filed Sept. 17, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. CARL f/V//LLER BW Afro RNE ys C. J. MILLER RING BINDER Oct. 15, 1957l Filed Sept. 17, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IE: '7 as INVENTOl-Q. CARL J. A/l/LLER BY l I a) 3,/ INVENTOR.,

Ot. l5, 1957 c.J. MILLR 2,809,352

Y RING BINDER Filed sept. 17, 1954 5 sheets-sheet s 6l A I A lllI l 1 I6 1/ zar: l]

F15-1C? v we 3 Lfr u Arron/sys A2,809,852 RING BiNDER Carl J. Miller, Hastings, Minn., assignor to The Smead Manufacturing Company, Hastings, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Application September 17, 1954, Serial No. 456,750 3 Claims. (Cl. 281-21) This invention relates to binders and more particularly to binders of the type known as ring binders, in which there is provided a plurality of individual leaves having a plurality'of holes punched along one edge thereof and a plurality of rings passed through said holes for retaining said individual leaves in position in a protective cover.

It is an objectV of this invention to provide a new and useful ringbinder comprising a synthetic resinous material and a method of producing the same.

it is a further object of this invention to provide a new and useful method for constructing a ring binder and for positioning the individual leaves firmly in place within the protective cover.

A further object of this invention resides in the provision of a plurality of individual leaves secured to the protective cover of a ring binder by flexible members.

Another object of this invention resides in the utilization of thermoplastic synthetic resihous material in providing a ring binder of unique construction.

Other objects reside in the specific constructional details of the ring binder itself including the synthetic resinous material of which it is constructed in cooperation with relatively stiff cover reinforcing members, and in the provision of flexible leaf retaining elements securely attached to the ring `binder cover and in the novel construction for retaining the leaves in position, the stiliening members within the cover and the securing of the covers to the leaves.

Still other and further objects of this invention reside in my unique method for producing a ring binder and the individual steps thereof.

Other and further objects of the invention will be those apparent and inherent in the apparatus as described, pictured and claimed.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends7 my invention then comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be ernployed.

This invention will bev described with reference to the drawings in which corresponding numerals refer to the same parts and in which:

Figure l is an isometric view of the cover of my invention in a stage of partial completion; Y

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure l but showing the cover of my invention in a second stage of completion;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the line and in the direction of the arrows 3--3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary isometric View of the means for positioning the individual leaves or sheets of my invention upon a plurality of retaining means;

Figure 5 is an elevational view similar to Figure 4 and showing one step in the sealing of the individual retaining strips for the individualleaves to a backing member.;

ares Patent 0 i 2,809,852 Patented Oct. 15, 1957 icc Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5 and showing the completion of the sealing of the individual strips forretaining said individual leaves to the backing member;

Figure 7 is an elevational View of the individual leaves securely positioned upon said backing member;

Figure 8 is an elevational view, partly insection, of the backing member being secured to the cover of my invention; Y

Figure 9 is an isometric view of my completed invention;

Figure l0 is a top plan viewof my completed inven-` tion with the cover open.

v My invention contemplates a binder in which individual leaves are securely attached by a plurality of members, preferably flexible, sealed to the cover of the binder and in which the cover comprises a plurality of members sealed to one another and provided with stilfening inserts and to the method of producing the same.

The resinous sheet materials `which are particularly useful in the practice of this invention, are those formed of thermoplastic resins. They are materials which readily fuse at temperatures attained in a high frequency electrical field and which have a low power factor; i. e., the resinous sheet materials should have a high dielectric hysteresis loss when placed in a high frequency eld. As examples of thev resinous sheet` materials whichmay be used, there are vinyl resins such as polyvinyl chloride,

polyvinyl acetate, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymers,

polyvinyl acetals and the like; acrylic resins; polystyrene resin, and polyethylene and the like. specification and in the appended claims, the expression resinous is also used to include such resin-like materials l asl cellulose ,esters and the like.

By reference now to the drawings, and initially to Fig-- ure l, there is shown my ring binder generally designated lll, comprising an outer sheet of resinous material 11 shown best in Figure 9, having rounded corners 12, 13, 14 and 15. While I prefer to use a single sheet of material for making both of the outside cover surfaces 16 and 18 of the binder, it is of course to be understood that individual sheets may be' utilized for the surfaces 16 and 18 and they may be then joined to provide a single sheet as desired.

A second sheet 19A and a third sheet 19B of resinous material, eaeh'having a dimension D slightly less than one-half the length dimension of the sheet 11, are provided and each is secured to sheet 11 by welding or sealing throughout three sides 2li-22 of its periphery. A fourth edge 23 is secured likewise to the sheet 11 but only after a stiffenin'g member 24 having dimensions slightly less than the dimensions of sheets ISA and NB has been i inserted under each of sheets 19A and 19B as will-be appreciated with reference to Figure l wherein is shown the sheet 2'4 in fragmentary form partially inserted and underlying sheet 19B.

A plurality of sheets 30 which may be individual leaves `or double leaves such as transparent members to provide pockets for the insertion of photographs, etc., are positioned upon a comb assembly generally designated 31 by having a plurality of flexible at threads 32 of the comb passed through a plurality of apertures 33 therein. Each rhone of the threads 32 as shown best with reference to Figure 7 is secured at its ends 34 to an elongated backing strip 35 which is sealed to the edgesl 23 of sheets 19A and 19B and overlying the seal along which they are in turn sealed to sheet 11. l

If desired, and as shown in Figure 2, a fractional sheet 40 of resinous material may be secured throughout three sides along edges 21, 22 and 23 so as to provide a pocket having an open edge 41.

inthe manufacture of my binder, a sheetof synthetic resinous material is usually drawn from endless rolls, and

As used in thev senses a cut approximately to the dimensions of sheet 11 of Figure 1. Two more sheets are cut approximately to the size of sheets 19A and 19B. The sheet 11 is then laid as shown in Figure l, and the inside sheets 19A and 19B are likewise superimposed in alignment as kshown in Ythat figure. An air press having an edge electrode corresponding to the edges 20, 21 and 22 of sheet 1l. is then brought into position and high frequency current is supplied to the electrode which welds the sheets 11, 19A and 19B as shown in Figure 1, providing the seal S (shown in Figure 3) at their edges. The press is then released, any material exterior of edges 20-22 is severed and peeled away and the article of Figure l produced. In this manner, the material is sheeted to approximate size, the electrode of the press makes a Weld along the edges 20-22, sealing members 11, 19A and 19B together and at the same time substantially severing any excess material which may then be peeled away. If severing is not accomplished by the electrode, it may be accomplished in any desired manner.

A reinforcing member 24 is then inserted in each of the two pockets provided by members 19A and 11, and 19B and 11, and this reinforcing member usually comprises a box-board reinforcing piece or other cardboard piece. It is preferred to warm the material to about 90-105 degrees before inserting the reinforcing members, and to cut the reinforcing members to make a full fit for the pockets when heated so that the synthetic resin Will tighten up on the members after cooling to provide smooth closely associated surfaces. However, it is to be understood that other reinforcing members may be utilized as desired. The reinforcing members will occupy the position shown in Figure 3.

To produce the comb assembly 31 as shown in Figures 8, a plurality of individual flexible strips or threads 32 are simultaneously unwound from a plurality of drums or spools 42 alixed to a common shaft 43 and having suitable means for rotation thereof. Guide rollers 44 and 45 control the unwinding of the strips 32, a pair of rollers 44 and 45 being provided for each strip.

A press 46 is provided having a bottom frame member 48 and an inclined leaf support member 49. A plurality of small tubes, 50 are provided fixedly positioned in member 49 so that the strips 32 may be passed therethrough as shown best in Figures and 6. The leaves or sheets 30 are then positioned as shown in Figure 4, lying against member 49 with apertures 33 positioned around the tubes 50. The desired number of sheets 30 are positioned as shown in Figure 4, strips 32 then unwound to the position illustrated and one edge 51 of the backing strip 35 positioned to underlie the end 33 of the strips 32 and to rest upon a narrow electrode 53 positioned upon member 46. A second cooperating electrode 54 is then brought to the position shown in Figure 5, a high frequency electrical field provided to each and the resinous sheet materials of which backing member 35 and strips 32 are comprised will be softened and the members will readily fuse together. The leaves 30 will then be slipped as a unit olf of tubes 50, the edge 52 of backing member 35 positioned upon the electrode 53, electrode 54 once more brought in position to seal the end 34 and the comb assembly 31 will then be formed. The impingement of the electrode 54 upon electrode 53 will at the same time substantially sever the ends of strips 32 and they may be torn apart, or other means of severing may be used as desired.

As shown in Figure 6, before the threads 32 are welded to edge 52 of backing strip 35, a shaped spreading dowel 55 is positioned under the threads and over the backing member 35, and against the'bottom of the leaves or sheets 30 forcing them to the position shown in Figure 6. As will be appreciated, the length of the backing strip 35, the number of threads 32 and the sizes of the leaves 30 will be chosen when making the comb assembly with the leaves thereon, as shown in Figure 6, so that theY i backing strip will extend between edges 20 and 22 when assembled in the finished binder of Figure 10 and the leaves 3@ will be of a size slightly smaller than the dimension of surfaces 19A and 19B as is conventional.

As shown with reference to Figure 8, the comb assembly 31 is then positioned upon a pair of high frequency electrodes 60, the assembly of Figure 2 positioned thereover with the edges 23 of members 19A and 19B in abutmentA with the edges 51 and 52 of the backing member 35, cooperating electrodes 61 brought into engaging position and high frequency current supplied to securely bond the edges of the backing strip 35 to members 19A and 19B and to bond members 19A and 19B to sheet 11 along the line or weld.

It will thus become apparent that I have provided an improved ring binder and method of construction not heretofore contemplated and possessed of material advantages.

As many widely differing embodiments of this inven-l tion may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is to be understood that I do not specifically limit myself to the embodiment disclosed herein.

What I claim is:

1. The method of making an assembly composed of a stack of edge perforated sheets attached to a fastening sheet by means of a plurality of plastic tapes extending through the perforations and attached to the sheet comprising assembling the sheets in a stack with the perforations slipped onto a plurality of hollow parallel spaced tubes projecting uniformly from a supporting plate for temporarily supporting the sheets, inserting through the tubes lengths of said flexible tape material sufficient to protrude beyond the ends of the tubes, bringing the protruding ends of the tapes into engagement with one face of a backing sheet along a line adjacent one edge thereof and simultaneously joining each tape to said sheet at said line, then moving the stack of sheets from the temporary support and onto said tapes over said sheet so as to leave additional areas on each tape exposed over said fastening sheet along a line adjacent the other edge thereof, simultaneously fastening said tapes to said sheet at said additional areas and severing the tapes beyond said fastenings.

2. The method of claim 1 further characterized in that the tapes are fastened to the sheet by heat welding the material of the tapes to that of the sheets.

3. The method of forming an assembly of a stack of sheets identically perforated along one edge thereof and an attachment assembly composed of flexible tapes extending through said perforations and attached at each end to `a backing sheet generally parallel to said one edge of said sheets while stacked which comprises, temporarily supporting sheets in a stack with the perforations superimposed thereby forming holes through the stack at said perforations, simultaneously projecting the ends of parallel extending spooled flexible tapes from one face of said stack and thence through said holes until the ends of said tapes protrude uniformly beyond the other face of the stack, fastening said ends adjacent a straight edge of a backing sheet laid normal to said tapes along the edge of the stack and then fastening each of the tapes to said backing sheet along a straight line of fastenings parallel to and spaced from the said straight edge by said stack and severing the tapes to detach the assembly.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,995,596 Adamson Mar. 26, 1935l 2,092,349 Fortier Sept. 7, 1937 2,153,639 Palmer Apr. 11, 1939 2,194,985 Price Mar. 26, 1940 2,224,188 Kennedy Dec. 10, 1940 2,390,125 Schade Dec. 4, 1945 2,478,132 Schade Aug. 2, 1949 2,486,330 Schade Oct. 25, 1949 2,571,525 Blitstein Oct. 16, 1951 2,647,071 Schade July 28, 1953 

